The religious views of the Aeta people are diverse. There is debate over who the Supreme Being is in the Aeta religion. Many believe that the Aeta are monotheistic, believing in one all-powerful character who rules over the lower entities. Among these believers, the Pinatubo Aeta of Mt. Pinatuba worship a god called Apo Namalyari. In general, the monotheistic Aeta believe in the god Gutugutumakkan. There are four characters of this Supreme Being that has rule of everything. The first is Lueve, who is responsible for growth and production. The second is Amas who is more of a being that rules emotions. They believe that Amas makes people feel love and peace. Binangewan rules health, taking charge of sickness and death. Finally, Tighalog is the ultimate source of all life and happenings within life. Accoriding to the Aeta, all of these spirits are rooted in the balete tree. The Aeta are animists, believing that non-human forms are spiritual enitities. They believe that souls exist within everything, including plants and animals. They believe that spirits are part of their surrounding, being embedded in the natural enrionment. The Pinatubo worship the environmental spirits Anito, who is a good spirit, and Kamana, who is a bad spirit. They also believe in other good and evil spirits of the sea, the river, the sky, etc. The Negros Ati worship the spirits tagulugar and tagapuo. In general, the Aeta believe that evil spirits bring sickness and death as a punishment for wrongs committed in life. It is believed that these spirits actually inhabit the body to sickness. Many Aeta practice rituals to rid the bodies of these evil spirits. Kagon is a healing ritual using song and dance to get the spirit our of the body. The Aeta religious practices include prayers and dances at certain occasions. There is some connection between these practices and hunting or food ceramony activities such as a pig hunt. The Aeta dance and pray before and after each pig hunt. The night before the pig hunt, Aeta women collect shellfish and perform a dance. This dance is meant to give thanks and apologize for the killing of the fish, as well as pray for a successful hunt. Furthermore, Aeta men participate in a bee dance the night before and after journeys to collect honey. Overall, the Aeta religion involves prayer and dance surrounding large food-gathering events. The Aeta religion has had little change over time. In the early 1960s, American Christian mission groups, including Evangelical Protestants, journey to the Phillieans in an attempt to spread Christianity through all indigenous groups. This still effects the Aeta today in that many of their people are now Evangelicals. Furthermore, the Spanish had some influence on Aeta religion when they brought Catholicism to the Philippines. However, the Aeta people generally hold strong in their practices, including religion.
Religious Practices
The religious views of the Aeta people are diverse. There is debate over who the Supreme Being is in the Aeta religion. Many believe that the Aeta are monotheistic, believing in one all-powerful character who rules over the lower entities. Among these believers, the Pinatubo Aeta of Mt. Pinatuba worship a god called Apo Namalyari. In general, the monotheistic Aeta believe in the god Gutugutumakkan. There are four characters of this Supreme Being that has rule of everything. The first is Lueve, who is responsible for growth and production. The second is Amas who is more of a being that rules emotions. They believe that Amas makes people feel love and peace. Binangewan rules health, taking charge of sickness and death. Finally, Tighalog is the ultimate source of all life and happenings within life. Accoriding to the Aeta, all of these spirits are rooted in the balete tree.The Aeta are animists, believing that non-human forms are spiritual enitities. They believe that souls exist within everything, including plants and animals. They believe that spirits are part of their surrounding, being embedded in the natural enrionment. The Pinatubo worship the environmental spirits Anito, who is a good spirit, and Kamana, who is a bad spirit. They also believe in other good and evil spirits of the sea, the river, the sky, etc. The Negros Ati worship the spirits tagulugar and tagapuo. In general, the Aeta believe that evil spirits bring sickness and death as a punishment for wrongs committed in life. It is believed that these spirits actually inhabit the body to sickness. Many Aeta practice rituals to rid the bodies of these evil spirits. Kagon is a healing ritual using song and dance to get the spirit our of the body.
The Aeta religious practices include prayers and dances at certain occasions. There is some connection between these practices and hunting or food ceramony activities such as a pig hunt. The Aeta dance and pray before and after each pig hunt. The night before the pig hunt, Aeta women collect shellfish and perform a dance. This dance is meant to give thanks and apologize for the killing of the fish, as well as pray for a successful hunt. Furthermore, Aeta men participate in a bee dance the night before and after journeys to collect honey. Overall, the Aeta religion involves prayer and dance surrounding large food-gathering events.
The Aeta religion has had little change over time. In the early 1960s, American Christian mission groups, including Evangelical Protestants, journey to the Phillieans in an attempt to spread Christianity through all indigenous groups. This still effects the Aeta today in that many of their people are now Evangelicals. Furthermore, the Spanish had some influence on Aeta religion when they brought Catholicism to the Philippines. However, the Aeta people generally hold strong in their practices, including religion.